Hawaii Five-0 season 8 episode 18 review: How Danny met Rachel
The origin of this mystery dates back to when Danny was in New Jersey, doing everything he could to help a woman involved in a terrible domestic crisis with a louse named Ray. His relationship with her grew over time and he crafted a way to allow her to escape. That included entering a gray area, showing up in front of Ray, calling the cops, and then intentionally goading Ray to beat him to a pulp while the police watched. He did what he could in order to ensure that Ray was arrested — he changed his life forever, which certainly gave Ray a motive for going through with this.
Everything that happened in his past returned tonight with Danny came into contact with his old flame in the present and she did what she should to cope with Ray’s death. This was a nice journey into the past and a chance for Scott Caan to flex some different acting muscles than he is used to. This was a story about reflection, heroism, and seeing how a singular event can snowball. The most interesting part of all of this was that right at the conclusion of helping this woman in the past, Danny met Rachel by happenstance. If he hadn’t gotten involved in that case, he wouldn’t have met his former wife and mother to his son.
Let’s give some credit here to director Alex O’Loughlin (yes, you read that right) — trying to craft New Jersey on the show’s Hawaii setting was no easy task, but he did a great job.
Saving Adam
For McGarrett and Grover, they spent much of Friday’s episode doing what they could to get Adam out of a legal bind. He was arrested on suspicion of murder, and to make matters worse there was not a lot of evidence out there to turn things around.
This put Jessie in the spotlight, given that she had been collaborating with Adam but also had been growing increasingly suspicious over time. Finding the character was the utmost priority and doing so was not easy. She first tried to evade Steve in order to “keep her cover”; when she was captured, it was hard to get Five-0 on her side that Adam was set up and she was left out of the loop.
Luckily, there was eventually some evidence that her story was in fact straight. Following that Adam was freed, but unfortunately he is certainly not out of the woods yet. The gang is still out there, and it is also not altogether clear who set him up in the first place.
Here is the big twist with Adam, which closed out the night: It just so turns out that Adam has a half-sister and she, per DNA evidence, is somehow involved in everything he is dealing with.
Related – Take a look at what lies ahead on Hawaii Five-0 season 8 episode 19
Tani and Junior spend a day on the beat
Rather than taking part in traditional Hawaii Five-0 missions the story changed significantly for these two characters tonight. They put on police uniforms and with that, figured out just what sort of cops they would be — the sort that would punish vandals by forcing them to repaint a whole wall. Also, they were the sort to help a troubled little boy. They were sympathetic when they needed to be and yet firm with others. They were good cops and good partners — which we of course hope leads to them being a great relationship down the line.
It seemed as though we were setting up for a sweet conclusion with Tani and Junior enjoying their day together; yet, in the closing minutes Junior got hit with mace after trying to help an old woman cross the street.
CarterMatt Verdict
Overall Hawaii Five-0 season 8 episode 18 was fun, mostly in how it gave you different dimensions and three different stories. While Tani & Junior, saving Adam, and Danny’s past were all very separate as stories, they were certainly strong and interesting in their own right.
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